2022 Eclipse Awards: Clairiere
Over her first three campaigns, Clairiere added credibility to a Thoroughbred adage: “Breed the best to the best, and hope for the best.”
Clairiere is prime example that sometimes the product of a top stallion and a top broodmare is indeed a top racehorse.
Sired by Curlin and produced by Grade 1-winning mare Cavorting, Clairiere followed her 2020-21 seasons with another outstanding campaign as a 4-year-old in 2022. Clairiere won three races including Grade 1 and Grade 2 victories over nemesis Malathaat, and missed by only a head finishing third in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
It makes well-bred Clairiere an Eclipse Award finalist for the second straight year. A finalist for outstanding 3-year-old filly of 2021, Clairiere is a finalist for outstanding dirt female of 2022. The bar was always set high for Clairiere, who is owned and was bred by Stonestreet, and trained by Steve Asmussen.
The 2022 goal for Clairiere was to polish her résumé. Although she had won a Grade 1 and placed in two other Grade 1’s for 3-year-old fillies, she was a notch below older fillies and mares. In her final race of 2021 and first start against older in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, she finished fourth.
:: Full list of 2022 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
Clairiere entered 2022 with something to prove – to rise from the 3-year-old filly ranks and compete with the country’s best older females. She began with a confidence-builder at Fair Grounds. The 1-10 favorite in a three-other-than allowance route, Clairiere and new jockey Joel Rosario won by six lengths.
Asmussen shipped Clairiere to Oaklawn Park for her second start of the season, in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap against multiple Grade 1 winners Letruska and Ce Ce. Clairiere broke slowly, while Letruska made an easy lead and wired the field. Clairiere ran well, runner-up by 1 1/4 lengths.
She was still looking for her first Grade 1 against older, and the opportunity arrived in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on June 11 at Belmont Park. While the front-runners smoked, Clairiere and Rosario dropped to last in the five-horse field. When the pace collapsed, Clairiere rallied outside and upset Malathaat by a head. It was not a fluke.
Six weeks later in the Grade 2 Shuvee at Saratoga, Clairiere defeated Malathaat again, by 1 1/2 lengths. It turned out to be the final win of the season for Clairiere. She false-broke in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga next out, sustained a tongue laceration, and totally misfired for the first time in her career. It definitely was a fluke.
Clairiere recovered soon after, and trained forwardly for her season finale in the Distaff at Keeneland. Clairiere returned to form, but missed by a head behind Malathaat and runner-up Blue Stripe.
The 3-for-6 campaign by Clairiere increased her career total to six wins and earnings of $2,115,592 from 16 starts. As of early January, Clairiere was training for Asmussen at Fair Grounds in preparation for her 5-year-old campaign in 2023.
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